October 4, 2024
The Governor of NSW, The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, and the State Librarian, Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon, formally launched the RSNSW’s first history book at a ceremony held at the Library on 2 October 2024.
Titled Knowledge for a Nation: Origins of the Royal Society of New South Wales, the 320-page volume was written by Blue Mountains historian Dr Anne Coote and was produced by the Society’s Publishing Committee, supported by a Create NSW cultural grant managed by the Royal Australian Historical Society.
The launch was hosted by the RSNSW’s President, Dr Susan Pond AM FRSN, and Vice-President, Emeritus Professor Peter Shergold AC FRSN. After a video message of congratulations from Her Excellency, recorded at Government House, the event’s centrepiece was Dr Coote’s illustrated summary of the Society’s 19th-century evolution—from a short-lived philosophical group of five prominent colonial businessmen, meeting at each other’s homes, to assent from Queen Victoria in 1866 to use the term ‘royal’, to a globally influential, science-oriented, post-Federation organisation involving the founders and leaders of most of the State’s major cultural institutions.
From left to right in the image to the right are: Dr Caroline Butler-Bowden, Dr Anne Coote, Dr Susan Pond, Dr Davina Jackson (editor of the book and chair of the Society’s Publishing committee), and Emeritus Professor Peter Shergold.
A video of the launch speeches and Dr Coote’s lecture is now available on the RSNSW YouTube channel and may also be viewed inline below. A collection of photographs, including certificate presentations to the RSNSW’s new Members and Fellows, is also available for viewing and download.
Knowledge for a Nation is a limited-edition softcover publication that will be distributed soon to specialist bookshops and online outlets by John Reed Book Distribution. RRP $60 (incl. GST). Information about ordering online will be made available shortly.
